Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

When restoring, is it ok to paint the steering wheel White, with a good epoxy paint, or automotive paints?

Or are there plenty of original White steering wheels around?

If you're going to have a white steering wheel I'd also suggest white driving gloves, as it'll get dirty very quickly.

Gary,

Have a look at this recent thread. Or this one about Steering Wheel Restoration.

A white or Ivory wheel with a good glossy finish doesn't really get dirty. My 53 has a white wheel, and any grease I get on the wheel wipes right off.

The only time I wore white gloves in the packard was when driving some friends to their wedding, and the car broke down on the way to the ceremony! In fact 2 out of the 3 times I have had trouble were on the way to weddings.

When restoring, is it ok to paint the steering wheel White, with a good epoxy paint, or automotive paints? Or are there plenty of original White steering wheels around?


I don't think there were any official white wheels until 53. Anything earlier was the ivory or beige shade of plastic. There should be a fair number of those because even though a deluxe wheel, it was used on a lot of cars. Problem is finding a good one without cracks.

I believe the white and other colored wheels of 53-4 were all painted. Can't say what the factory used but I don't think epoxy was around then. I rather suspect it was a baked enamel.

When doing a 54 with a light green color several years ago, I used acrylic enamel with hardener (Dupont Imron) and then a clear over that. It had a very glossy finish and seems to be holding up very well.

Krylon has a spray can paint made specially for plastics, I wonder if this would be the better paint to use since it actually chemically bonds to the plastic and therefore should last longer? Their Dover White looks like it would be about the correct shade:http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic/

"plastic" is like "metal"
lots of differences within the category.
the krylon plastic paint is a more flexible paint and bonds better to things like polypropylene and polyethylene, which are hard to stick to (low surface energy). I've used epoxy paint on a steering wheel successfully. I agree that the original was probably enamel.

So you don't think the Krylon Fusion would work very well in the particular case? I figured since it actually bonds with the plastic it would never come off.

my point is that "bonds with plastic " is way too broad and vague a claim. All paints bond with their substrate if they work. The issue to beware of is that the old wheel's plastic is usually degraded to some extent. If severely degraded, you can effect adhesion. The Krylon is formulated to bond better to some relatively cheap thermoplastics - your wheel is a different type of plastic and thermoset. Now it still may work, but I'm still inclined to epoxy primer or polyurethane.

I pretty much am in agreement with bkazmer. Assuming the old surface is clean and solid, I think that, more important that adhesion, is simple wear-resistance of the paint to the constant handling. Modern paints like urethanes and the like will have better wear resistance that simple paints.